Jezus f***ing Christ. At first this was sort of a hoax site...like from theonion or something. But it isn't. And I cannot help but feel sad for all Namco employees whose voice was ignored while some management guys snorted too much unhealthy stuff and came up with this.
How can you freakin' ignore basic logic in these situations?!
I'm not a fan of free-to-play but I understand it has its place. Pay-to-win is actually a nicely looking money scam or even extortion, so admitting it to be that way is bad enough in itself. But even then, I can understand that if people are having fun with it, I can't really forbid people to play it (though if this gets much worse, governments may have to intervene at some point).
...but removing one of the most basic needs of a fighting game in order to satisfy a model nobody even asked for in the first place? That's just sad. That very argument (you don't want to go up against someone who pays more than you) should be a main reason NOT to go for free-to-play.
*sigh*
Perhaps the worst thing is that I don't even like fighting games to begin with. It's not that I hate them (I have played a couple), but they're just not my favorite. But this sort of thing shouldn't be happening. These sorts of practices not only ruin a well-known franchise but also damage the industry as a whole. Those stories where a child spends a gazillion bucks on items in a free-to-play game may be the exception now, but with this sort of game development, this is only going to get more common. And if it doesn't stop, there may be game rehab clinics in the future where addicted gamers admit they fell in the same trap heroine junkies fell into.
This may sound absurd, but I'm serious about it. In the long run, this may damage our gaming culture far more than any violent game will ever do...
